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FTP is 4.9 w/kg (obtained via racing and training data). I'm not sure of current 20min and less power durations since I am not really pushing those durations at this time.

Racing cat 3 right now. Raced stupidly as a 4, only been riding for 2 years, then once it clicked got the upgrade pretty easily and was strong in my first 3's and 1/2/3 races. Looking for the 2 upgrade soon and hopefully the 1 next year

Coming back from three months off the bike (prior to which I only briefly had the powermeter) I'm at

5s 141m 7.95m 5.1ftp 4

Occasional cat 3 (uk) racer, though i may put some effort into the winter series and next season to try to get to cat 2.

I'm pretty confident that I can improve on my 1m and 5m times. 20 minute and ftp are difficult to test as even using a TT course, there's always traffic, and environmental factors like wind and rain come into play. I cant budge my 5s power though, which is low in terms of the Coogan/Hunter power profile chart - im thinking it may be as much a failure of technique as much as power/strength.

What are peoples views on xpower or npower versus average power for longer time periods, say 1 hour upwards?

I've started using GC v3 which gives MMP curve for all three powers. For 20 minutes upwards my mean max xpower/npowers are much larger than average power (15 to 20% increases say). I ride on relatively crappy roads (just north of London) - bumpy, windy, rolling, traffic, etc - so I'm not surprised that xp/np is higher than ap. I'm interested though in whether I could put out the np/xp as an average power in the right conditions.

So if, for example, my best average 1 hour power is 290w, and my best xp or np 1 hour is 335w does this mean that on the right day, with the right conditions (smooth road, no traffic, flat, etc) I should be able to knock out an average power equal to the xp/np?

The practical side of this is that I've always used average power to calculate my ftp (usually the larger number of current 95% of 20 minutes, or 100% of 1 hour), and then base training zones, interval powers, etc, from that. Does anyone use xp/np to calculate ftp and hence base interval powers from there instead?

I personally use it as a guide. However this is the reason why repeatable, accurate testing is required. If in testing for several months you, for 20mins, do 280, 288, 290, 296 etc and then crack out 315 NP for a ride I would be skeptical of its relevance. If it was 305 it could be a good indicator that there has been improvement. General analysis of powerfiles will yield more info about your current form rather than an average or normalised singular value.

"Physiology is all just propaganda and lies... all waiting to be disproven by the next study.""I'm not a real doctor; But I am a real worm; I am an actual worm." - TMBG

Makes sense - rather than posting about it on a forum, I should drag myself out to a fast, flat TT course rather than the local ones (which have more in common with cyclocross courses...) and have a go to see how far apart average and normalised are in better conditions!

Use average power to pace intervals and both AP and NP to analyze ride files. The disparities between them can indicate the variability index of your intervals and course, which can be useful for many, many things.

I used training peaks for a while via a coach, and much preferred GC, but have never tried WKO. I've always assumed that GC has the same or greater functionality than WKO, but that WKO may be a little more polished. (Just to be clear I'm a massive fan of GC - I think its fabulous what the guys have have put together and offer for free!)

KWalker wrote:Use average power to pace intervals and both AP and NP to analyze ride files. The disparities between them can indicate the variability index of your intervals and course, which can be useful for many, many things.

I understand the use of np & xp feeding into performance manager, but what do you mean by "many many things"? In general I know whether a ride was highly variable or constant when I do it, I dont need a VI or a comparison of np/xp to ap to tell me, and I know that a crit will have a higher xp/np to ap ratio than a time trial, again I dont need a number at the end to know. I find that looking at the power trace in ride details gives me much more useful information than the xp/np value. I want to know the where and why I had peaks and troughs in a TT, and how long, how many and how large my peaks and troughs were in the crit; information that I can use to either alter my tactics/approach to an event or feed into my training.

NP/XP doesnt give any of that rich data, so usually I give it a cursory glance to make sure that it accords with what I think it should (as much a check on the data quality as anything else) - and then if the ride is worthy of analysis its straight into the detail.

I'm open to learning stuff about this though, if there are other aspects worth considering that I missing.

I rode indoor and used Polar CS600x with power sensor.I think I could have had better 5 sec power outdoor because I have very good acceleration.What can you say about these results? It was my first test with power. I am an amatour, riding 10-12k per year. In 2011 I didn't ride too much but since 4 weeks I've been training hard. I weigh 53 kilos.